A new blog post on the Relic Dawn of War blog details every ability and piece of wargear that the new Tau Commander Last Stand hero will unlock on his quest to reach level 20. It looks like Relic have not only nailed what the Tau are about, but have created a high-risk, mobile, ranged devastator that should provide new challenge for anyone who thinks they've mastered Dawn of War 2's superb three-man survival mode. This is a character who does ZERO damage in melee, but has access to a plasma gun and jump jets from the start, and abilities with names like "sky ray barrage."

Listing every upgrade and wargear unlock will be a bit spoilery for some, but if you're eager to see some of the slightly terrifying upgrades on offer, including heavy assault drones and nano-bots, you'll find the full list on the Dawn of War 2 blog. According to IGN the Tau Commander is set to hit Steam later today, and will cost $9.99.

Relic are also releasing some new chapter packs for Dawn of War 2's armies, including the Death Korps of Krieg for the Imperial Guard, and Word Bearers for Chaos.

The anime-inspired Tau are bringing their mecha suits to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution this month, with a new Tau Commander hero coming to Last Stand mode as paid downloadable content. Developer Relic also announced that new premium multiplayer chapters are in the works for the Chaos and Imperial Guard factions.

"The major themes that drove the design were to have a hero that was offensively potent but fragile, and to provide different avenues of playstyle," Relic's Clint Tasker explained in the announcement dev diary. According to Tasker, the Tau Commander can be set up to be offensive powerhouses, disrupt enemy forces, or support their allies.

Relic says that the Tau Commander will arrive alongside Imperial Guard Death Korps of Krieg and Chaos Word Bearers chapter packs in the next update, this month. The chapter packs traditionally cost $7.49. Relic hasn't announced how much the Tau Commander, the first new Last Stand DLC hero, will be.

While the Tau became playable in the original Dawn of War with the standalone expansion Dark Crusade, this will be their debut in the Dawn of War II sub-series.

The pack is coming in a nebulous "future update," so we're in the dark for release timing. In the past, armor packs have cost $7.49, so this is likely to hit at the same price, but nothing has been announced.

In a blog post, we got a peak at the units. Each of them carries "a distinctly Roman Empire influenced look" according to Relic artist Matt Kuzminski. This manifests itself in ornate armor styles and stylish plating. Kuzminski calls the Dreadnought his "favourite element of this pack," modeled after the Forge World version. Old Space Marine models have been replaced with Scouts and Devastators to match the aesthetic.

Orks are the winners of the latest Dawn of War 2: Retribution patch. The greenskins get a series of health buffs across the board, making those vast, snot coloured mobs even more intimidating. Love them or hate them, you won't be able to kill them quite as easily as you could yesterday.

In fact, every race has received balance tweaks, and a sizeable list of bugs have been quietly taken out back and shot with a plasma pistol. You'll find the full patch notes below, nabbed from the Dawn of War 2 Retribution forums. On a related side note, the Eldar Ulthwe DLC mentioned yesterday is available now on the Steam store for £4.99 / $7.50.

Map Changes

Fixed an issue on 4P Golgotha Depths that prevented Chaos spawning in the 4th position from entering the building in the back cornerFixed an issue on 4P Selenon Fissure that caused some units to get stuck in places by teleport or knockback that were not in playable areasFixed an issue on 6P Calderis Refinery that caused some units to get stuck in places by teleport or knockback that were not in playable areas

Bug Fixes

Dark Flames now do flamer_ability_pvp from flamer_pvpFixed an exploit that allowed players to cast smite multiple timesAll Chaos worship modifiers are now exclusiveRavener Alpha no longer fires while making tunnelsPlague Marine death explosion no longer gives a damage modifierTyranid Mycetic Spores no longer reinforces allied unitsFixed an issue that allowed the Lord General to cast med kits multiple timesWraithguard tooltip changed to “Heavy Infantry” from “Super Heavy Infantry”Ogryns tooltip changed to “Super Heavy Infantry” from “Heavy Infantry”Reduced the chance of abilities to misfireImproved squad plans of units with flamers so that the squad will retain unit coherencyImproved squad plans of units with missiles so that the squad will retain unit coherencyOrk Burna Melee cooldown changed from 1 to 0Fixed an issue that allowed units to take damage when under the effects of “Angels of Death”Fixed an issue that allowed Nobs to take damage when under the effect of “Frenzy”Hellfury damage type changed to flame_ability_pvp from flamer_pvpForce Commander’s Power Sword now shows proper weapon decoratorInquisitor’s Holy Brazier now shows proper weapon decoratorChaos Lord Blood Maul now shows proper weapon decoratorSluggas when upgraded with Nob leader now shows proper weapon decoratorPlague Marine’s Plague Sword now shows proper weapon decoratorWarlock’s Witchblade of Kurnous now shows proper weapon decoratorCommissar Lord’s Power Sword now shows proper weapon decoratorOrk Stormboyz now show proper weapon decoratorWarboss Bosspole no longer stacks HP on the Warboss

Tweaks include a Farseer insipired by Dawn of War - Dark Crusade character Farseer Taldeer, new robes for the Warlock Commander, a Wraithlord based upon concept sketches for the original tabletop miniature, fur cloaks and new helmets for Seer Council warlocks, and snazzy lightning decals for the Falcon and Fire Prism.

Relic recently revealed that it plans to let players "build your own custom mega army" in the still-not-officially-announced Dawn of War III, though there's no word yet on exactly what this will entail.

Though Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III is still not formally announced, that hasn't stopped publisher THQ and developer Relic from talking about the RTS sequel. The latest revelations come from Relic marketing manager James McDermott in an interview with Eurogamer, covering topics including custom armies.

"Looking at what we had real success with with Dawn of War II - Retribution, with the DLC, and with customisation and building their armies and collecting being a big part of what 40k fans really love, we want to make that a big part of DoW 3," McDermott said. "There's going to be lots of opportunities to expand and build your own custom mega army. That's definitely an area we want to invest in. We see a good opportunity."

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

Customisation is a staple of the tabletop miniatures wargame, from paint schemes and replacing figures' components with snazzier parts to flat-out inventing new factions. The most recent DoW only supports relatively limited custom paint options. How exactly will it all work in Dawn of War III? Until the game's revealed, who could possibly say. But custom armies!

McDermott also backed up THQ core games head Danny Bilson's remarks that Dawn of War III will combine elements of the first two with new elements and MMO aspects. DoW 3 "is going to have a much larger strategic component to it, more of a global battle going on with little tactical things, sort of MMO-like," McDermott explained.

"We're trying to leverage even more so on the Games Workshop tabletop game, and then combine that with the game mechanics people have said, 'If you were to make a DOW3 we would like this kind of balance of things,' and what we think would be good for strategy games as a whole."

McDermott also teased the announcement Relic is due to make at the Gamescom show in August, saying "There is something cool and I think people will be really pleased to hear about it." If we all wish hard enough for a surprise Homeworld 3 announcement, it might just come true.

"The design goal for Last Stand has always been that wargear would give you new ways to play, rather than straight-up be better. I've tried to maintain that design philosophy with these items," designer Clint Tracker explained in the announcement. "One, so that players do not have to buy it to compete for top scores and two, to stay true to the original intent of the mode. These items are here to create new and awesome ways for players to slaughter mobs of infantry in the two arenas."

Playing dress-up with the new wargear

Two new items will be released for each of the six Last Stand heroes, intended to be work together and support particular approaches. The Imperial Guard Lord General's gnarly bearskin shrug and shotgun, for example, will toughen up his turrets and help him tackle crowds of infantry. The Space Marine's snazzy new hat and shield, on the other hand, toughen him up and boost melee damage so he can happily go on hacking enemies to pieces.

Pricing for the DLC has not been revealed yet, though producer Jeff Lydell told GameReplays that it'll be "Purchasable per hero or in a bundle for the whole set." There's no word on a release date yet either. The previous DLC, a purely cosmetic Dark Angels skins pack, cost $7.50.